#BookishThoughts-I Would Do Anything For (Book)Love But I Won’t Do That!

With apologies for hijacking the Meatloaf anthem, I want to talk tonight about the issue of book lending…

How many times have you done the following?

You are talking to someone about books, a friend, even a close friend, someone you basically trust.

And they say ‘What book do you love more than any other? One you think is not as loved as it could be, and that you push on other people?’

Before you answer-stop and think.

Because I have and I did and now I don’t own a copy of my favourite book, so basically, this bookish thoughts post is about that-I would do anything to spread the book love but I won’t do that.

Not twice anyway!

‘Geek Love’ by Katherine Dunn is a book I found when I was at university, the first time around, in 1992/93.

It profoundly moved me, reminded me of Angela Carter at her peak, made me feel physically ill in parts and ugly cry on several occasions. You didn’t read this book so much as live it.

The story of 2 circus people, who felt that the best gift they could give their children was the ability to earn a living just being themselves, is a rare and astounding book with the ability to move you from beginning to end.

Olympia, the albino hunchback dwarf who narrates her family history, is not merely recalling her past but also echoing a time where the  American dream made anything seem possible. But what the family did not realise, as so many others did, was that the converse side of this is that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The fame and adulation that the Binewski family enjoy comes at a very high price. It’s as if Tom Waits reimagined a tale by Isabel Allende. ‘Geek Love‘ was a hugely influential read that expanded my bookish horizons and travelled everywhere with me.

This, my battered paperback of ‘IT‘ by Stephen King and ‘‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt are truly my most favourite of books.

So when I was asked which book I would recommend, some years ago, I was so keen to lend my copy to a fellow college buddy that I did not stop to think would I ever get it back.

She left the college course I was on, and I had no means to ask her for it back.

I have yet to find another copy to replicate the one above, I am fondly attached to that cover and I am also on a self imposed book buying moratorium until June, so that I can dig into my back catalogue of books.

But if I do get the chance to pick one up, I absolutely will not let it out of my sight!

Every time I have been asked to recommend a book,  I now ask myself ‘Am I prepared to never see that book again?’ and mostly the answer is yes, I want to share books rather than hoard them.

But when it comes to those three?

I will recommend picking their own copy up, ordering it from the library or scouting car boot sales-when I get my own copy of ‘Geek Love‘ back, it is going nowhere.

I 100% recommend this with all my heart, but do me a favour, and don’t ask me for my copy please!

What is the one book you wish you had never lent out and would love to get a copy of or have you replaced it?

Drop me a line down below and apologies to anyone who read the title and expected something racier ….